The present embodiments relate to a cooking surface integrated into an oven bottom for a cooking appliance, and particularly, but not limited to, an oven bottom cover for a gas and/or electric appliance.
As shown in FIG. 1, a typical oven bottom 1 of the cooking compartment may form the lowest portion of the oven's cooking compartment. The oven bottom may catch spills from items cooked upon the racks. The bottom typically provides an outlet 2 for heat and/or combustion products to be directed out of the heating compartment and subsequently exit out of the cooking compartment. The oven bottom may reduce the likelihood that the consumer comes into contact with open flames and electrical components, such as the gas ignition. Portions of the oven bottom can be removable without hand tools if the igniter is shielded to reduce contact by the user. The oven bottom is typically stamped steel that is then porcelain coated due to the high temperatures (800-1000 degrees Fahrenheit) expected in the oven. Normally there is a stamped metal flame spreader 3 directly beneath the oven bottom between the burner to direct flames from a burner 4 and reduce direct impingement of the flame onto the underside of the oven bottom.
Typical metal cooking compartments of cooking appliances would allow a user to merely place a cooking stone onto one of the metal rack's spaced above the metal oven bottom. Heat from a burner would then need to propagate thru a metal flame spreader, enameled steel oven bottom, and then the air gap from the metal oven bottom to the rack before heating the cooking stone.
There are several disadvantages associated with the cooking stone spaced from the metal oven bottom. The cooking stone may be difficult to preheat to a specific temperature desired by the user. There is also additional handling and storing of the cooking stone separate from the rack. Further, typically oven bottoms are not utilized as a cooking surface or area and therefore cooking volume is lost. Also the flame spreader is typically needed to reduce the potential for porcelain “crazing” and “de-glossing”.
Thus there is a need to integrate a cooking surface into the oven bottom.